When the police arrived at the Hooters restaurant in North Carolina last week, John Daly the golfer and Hall of Fame party guy reportedly didn’t want to go to the hospital. 

He was so intoxicated he had passed out on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. So the cops took him to the drunk tank.

It gives me absolutely no pleasure to post this picture. I am doing it just to show you what he has been reduced to.

The restaurant employees didn’t want him back inside and the group he had been traveling with didn’t want him back in their vehicle.

Daly, who has given up trying to get sober, has hit a new low and my concerns for him are well founded.

I have written to ask PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem whether he is going to wait until Daly is critically injured before says that Daly isn’t welcome on the tour until he’s been somewhere to get his act together. No response yet from Finchem.

Golf pros aren’t employees of the PGA and it has little control over them. If golfers continue to make enough money each calendar year to qualify to play they are welcome on the tour. But Finchem can go to the sponsors of individual tournaments and ask that they stop giving exemptions to Daly. He needs them because it’s been at least two years since he earned his right to play on the tour.

Sponsors have ignored his behavior up to this point because he draws fans and has proven to be one of the most popular golfers to show up on a golf course. But after a while, even fans have to wonder if they are going to see a train wreck or a golfer.

No one is doing Daly any good by encouraging him to continue on his present path. I know he has more than one alimony and child support payment to make each month but if he’s in jail or dead his former wives won’t get paid, right?

Give the guy a break and make him face reality. It might just save his life.

Tired of the same old sports page? Then check out Paula Duffy’s insightful (and often humorous) take on the sports day at her Examiner.com page! The popular co-host for Sports Journey Radio is also a contributor to the Huffington Post and founder of the sports learning site Incidental Contact. In her spare time, Duffy practices law in Los Angeles. But don’t hold that against her.